On MSNBC, Diana Buttu Falsely Claims Gaza Fence is Electrified

Former PLO adviser Diana Buttu, who several years ago infamously repeated on numerous media interviews that Palestinian rockets “do not have explosive heads,” is at it again. Yesterday, she falsely claimed on MSNBC that Israel’s border fence is electrified. “There is an electrified fence there,” she said on “Morning Joe First Look” when MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin asked about the Israeli need for defense. “So what Israel is quote, unquote defending is an electrified fence.”

Israel’s border fence with Gaza is outfitted with electronic monitoring sensors; it is not “electrified,” and thus causes no harm to those who touch it. As a May 2, 2018 New York Timescorrection noted: “An article on April 28 about Palestinians protesting along the fence between Gaza and Israel referred imprecisely to the fence. While the fence is fitted with electronic sensors to detect infiltrators, it is not an electrified fence.” Mohyeldin did not challenge or correct Buttu’s misinformation.

CAMERA Author

Tamar SternthalTamar Sternthal is director of CAMERA’s Israel Office. She monitors both U.S. publications and the English-language Israeli daily Ha’aretz, and heads up CAMERA’s “Ha’aretz, Lost in Translation” project. Her columns have appeared in numerous American and Israeli publications, including the Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet, Algemeiner, Philadelphia Daily News, St. Petersburg Times, and the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Sternthal is interviewed on radio about the media's coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and regularly participates in panels about the media, hosted by universities and think tanks in Israel.Twitter handle: http://twitter.com/TamarSternthal